Note on Hillary's language. Also Stephen King's

[jhetley]

If you separate out the bits of Hillary's "racist" comment, you are left with, yes, polls showing she is more popular with whites, with working-class, etc.  It's the combination or synergy effect that really twists some folks' underpants.*

And our local Literary King gets roasted for stating an Inconvenient Truth -- that military service is employment of last resort for much of our elitist snob society.  Witness the recent relaxation of enlistment standards to allow unfavorable encounters with John Law, or the lack of a high school diploma.  This less-favored career path also shows up in the statistics when you compare military service rates for poor, rural states like Maine against those of places where you can get a real job that doesn't involve rude people with Improvised Explosive Devices...

*None of this should be construed as an endorsement of Ms. Clinton.  I don't trust her personal or political morals, based on past performance.

Comments

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

I know all too well that Mr. King was right: the biggest reason why my youngest uncle spent twenty years in the Navy and my brother nearly twenty years in the Army was because of the available options. In both cases, they would have otherwise spent the rest of their lives working in fast food in the piny woods of Michigan and Wisconsin. I also point out the number of SMU fratbeasts who are all gung ho about the Iraq war and try to shout down anyone who brings up legitimate criticisms of the effort...and then scream even louder when they're asked if they're willing to join the Armed Forces themselves.

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

Last I heard, the Army wasn't so hard up for volunteers that they were taking illiterates - if you can't read, you don't have "the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that".

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

True -- a more-accurate caution would be, "If you can't read, you can't even get into the Army, etc..."

Even so, I taught some of the supposed high-end recruits after the end of the draft. If they were literate, they hid it well. I hate to think what 11-B got...